Dear Friends, Today, hundreds of thousands of manuscripts that explain human history and culture continue to be endangered by neglect, war, theft and disasters. By digitizing the handwritten records of ancient civilizations in many of the world’s most dangerous and inaccessible locations, HMML brings the historic Benedictine commitment to preserving human culture in troubled times to communities threatened by persecution, emigration, and modernization. In its first half-century, HMML has photographed some 140,000 complete manuscripts, totaling almost 50 million pages. Just as Benedictine monasteries treasured and copied books of ancient wisdom throughout the Dark Ages, so HMML's teams today ensure that the legacies of historic cultures around the world will be passed on to future generations. Help the Benedictines save civilization (again)!

Sincerely yours,

Father Columba Stewart, OSBExecutive Director

“ As a journalist, I have witnessed first-hand the destruction that wars and natural disasters can wreak on a community’s identity and cultural heritage.

I strongly endorse HMML’s efforts to preserve the manuscripts containing our world’s history and thought, using the latest digital technology. Mutual understanding and, ultimately, peace depend on the endurance of these traditions and the scholarly exploration of their manuscript witnesses.

I hope you will join me in supporting this unique and most important mission.”

Funds raised through HMML’s $16.2 million campaign will be directed to four goals:

1) Digital Manuscript Preservation. Supports the digitization of manuscripts in regions threatened by political instability or in libraries endangered by economic or environmental conditions.

2)Sharing and Safeguarding the Digital Manuscript Collections. Supports data archiving, cataloging, creation of finding aids and research tools, and the development of vHMML, an online environment for manuscript studies across languages and cultures.

3)Fostering Groundbreaking Research. Supports research fellowships, HMML’s scholar-curators, and the exchange of ideas and discoveries.

4)Renovation of HMML’s Teaching, Learning, and Research Environment. Supports inviting and technologically sophisticated spaces for teaching, research, and public programming. See renderings and a floor plan in the slideshow below.

Questions about the HMML campaign?Contact HMML development director, Erin Lonergan at elonergan@hmml.org or 320-363-2095